There are also, according to the Baby Name Wizard, cycles. Names of your mother's generation (for me, Linda, Sue, Debby, Barbara) all sound like your mother-in-law's name, and they make you think of a 50-year-old woman. Names of your grandmother's generation (for me, Mary, Betty, Dorothy, Shirley) all sound like old lady names.

But you probably never knew your great-grandmother, or at least very little, and not many other people of your great-grandmother's generation. You may have heard stories about her, and stories from when she was a little girl. You may romanticize her generation, and earlier than that. So the names of that generation and earlier (for me, Ruth, Virginia, Elizabeth, Evelyn) don't have as much baggage to them.

Of course, there are names that we like and names that we don't like from those generations, because there are other trends that drive us. For instance, there's a current trend towards boys' names ending in -n. Just like Carotte said that in France there's a trend towards boys' names ending in -o.

Girls' names with two syllables (or sometimes three) ending with -a are really popular right now. Ava, Sophia, Olivia, etc. Soft letters like s, ph, l, and v. Lots of k's and m's, too. But not as many d's, and generally flowing names. So some women may be choosing old-fashioned, uncommon names, and then finding that Julia, or Sylvia, turns out to have three others of her name in her preschool class, because the other women are of the same generation and they are all being affected by language the same way such that they are also looking for those soft consonants and flowing names with the -a ending.

I want to see "Evelyn" make a comeback as a boy's name. Perhaps the (male) character of Evelyn Napier in Downton Abbey will make it acceptable? Fingers crossed!

The only real "baby name stealing" story I ever heard was from a woman I knew on a forum. She was pregnant with a girl and was telling all and sundry that they were going to name the baby something along the lines of Ehrynne. (Not exactly that, but close enough.) A normal name when pronounced, but with a totally funky spelling.

A pregnant woman she knew IRL had her baby girl first and named her...Ehrynne.

She was livid. We heard about that for AGES. Can't say I blame her, though.

(She ended up naming her baby Madysynne or something like that.)

Is that meant to be pronounced as Erin? It took me a while to work that out (if so). I never understand why people take perfectly normal and nice names and give them such a weird spelling. Frankly, 'Ehrynne' just looks ridiculous, as does Madysynne.

In an effort to be 'unique' there were 5 girls at my son's primary school called Tamika, all with different spellings - Tymmekka, Timika, Tammika, Tamyka, and Tamika. I used to see their names regularly on the tuckshop lunch order bags. For some reason most of them used to forget to put their surnames on, so I guess at least having a 'unique' name/spelling came in handy in that regard. (All were pronounced t-mee-ka).

That was an interesting site. My own name was somewhat popular in most of the UK (mainly in the upper classes for some reason) and Australia/NZ a few decades before I was born, and a decade or so after, and is starting to make a bit of a comeback now, but has always been virtually unheard of in the US.

OTOH, my sister's (Welsh) name is virtually unheard of/used here (Aust), but has always been very popular in the US. I get a buzz out of buying her personalised stuff when I visit the US.

I'm in the UK and have heard of several 'Mabel's, although fewer than some of the other 'old fashioned' names.

Children of people I know include Ada, Maisie, Anna, Arthur, Harry, Charlotte, Edward and Emily, and more than one Daisy

My elder sister was named after our grandmother, but it turned out that her name (and her 2 middle names) were 3 of the top 10 girl's names for the year she was born. Which is partly why I ended up with a name which is very unusual for someone my age - I have *never* met anyone who shares it who is not either 50 years older than me, or about 30 years younger. (My mother tells a story of being in a supermarket when I was quite small. I was picking things off the shelves after being told not to, so got a very stern, "[MyName] put that back AT ONCE" from my mother. At which point an elderly lady further up the aisle looked very guilty, and promptly fished several items out from under her coat and put them back on the shelves - whether she then gave up on shoplifting, of course, we don't know.

I went through a period of not liking my name because it was unusual (I was bullied, and it was one of the many things that was used by the bullies) but I've grown to like it.

(and the one time, when I was a child, that we found something in a shop with my name on it, my parents bought it for me with no argument, as it was so unusual. It was a rather nice hand made mug, and I had it for *years*

Some names just turn out to be popular. My younger sister's partner has the same name (and uses the same shorter form of it) as my brother, and my elder sister's brother in law has the same name, too, so we had three of them in wedding party at my sister's wedding.

The only real "baby name stealing" story I ever heard was from a woman I knew on a forum. She was pregnant with a girl and was telling all and sundry that they were going to name the baby something along the lines of Ehrynne. (Not exactly that, but close enough.) A normal name when pronounced, but with a totally funky spelling.

A pregnant woman she knew IRL had her baby girl first and named her...Ehrynne.

She was livid. We heard about that for AGES. Can't say I blame her, though.

(She ended up naming her baby Madysynne or something like that.)

Is that meant to be pronounced as Erin? It took me a while to work that out (if so). I never understand why people take perfectly normal and nice names and give them such a weird spelling. Frankly, 'Ehrynne' just looks ridiculous, as does Madysynne.

In an effort to be 'unique' there were 5 girls at my son's primary school called Tamika, all with different spellings - Tymmekka, Timika, Tammika, Tamyka, and Tamika. I used to see their names regularly on the tuckshop lunch order bags. For some reason most of them used to forget to put their surnames on, so I guess at least having a 'unique' name/spelling came in handy in that regard. (All were pronounced t-mee-ka).

Now that you mention it, I can see how it could also be Irene. This is the problem with making up a wacky spelling for a normal name - it's like a lucky dip in hoping third parties pronounce it properly. Maybe it's actually Jennifer or Margaret.

Now that you mention it, I can see how it could also be Irene. This is the problem with making up a wacky spelling for a normal name - it's like a lucky dip in hoping third parties pronounce it properly. Maybe it's actually Jennifer or Margaret.

And the same quip every time.

clerk: So, Irene lastname is it?Ehrynne: Yes, Irene with an H.clerk: an H?Ehrynne: yes, and a Y.Ehrynne: oh, and two Nclerk: Hyrinne?[and so an for the rest of Ehrynne's life...]

Thinking about it, there's more chances that Hyrinne already exist and I think it's far nicer than Ehrynne.

I know a lady named Wanda in my hometown. I just took a first aid course for work in my hometown so I could spend a couple of nights with my Dad. In my class of 14, there were three ladies named Wanda - and none of them the lady I know. In a relatively small town.

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After cleaning out my Dad's house, I have this advice: If you haven't used it in a year, throw it out!!!!.

Actually, according to the Name Voyager at BabyNameWizard.com, Lillian *is* making a comeback. It dropped a lot in the 1920s to almost nothing in the 1950 and 1970s. In 1990s it started rising, and it's still on an upward trend.

I wonder if Gertrude will *ever* come back. Or Mabel. They are *nowhere*.

As soon as someone mentioned 'Lillian' I knew I'd be commenting. At the very least I can see it becoming very popular for babies of people in my age range (20's right now). After all, Lillian from Rugrats. Which premiered in 1991, so it also possibly inspired the names of some younger sisters.

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"Heh. Forgive our manners, little creature — that we may well kill and eat you is no excuse for rudeness."

We were living in a very small town (population about 1000) when my sister graduated from high school. About 30 kids, so about 15 girls. Of those 15 girls, 5 were named Linda, including my sister.

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~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Common sense is not a gift, but a curse. Because thenyou have to deal with all the people who don't have it. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I wonder if Gertrude will *ever* come back. Or Mabel. They are *nowhere*.

I'm actually really surprised that Gertrude hasn't yet. With the adorable nickname of Trudy, it's so darn cute! (In the television show Monk, his deceased wife was Trudy. I thought that might spark some interest.) I also love Agatha and Agnes. Little Aggies could go to Texas A &M and be Homecoming Queens.

And someone mentioned older Jennifers. One of my friends from school (roughly 40) was named Jennifer after her Grandmother. Grandma Jenny is in her 80s now.

This is reminding me of the show Designing Women with Julia saying someday most grandmothers will have the names Heather and Ashley, but then again, their children/grandchildren will probably be named Martha or Bernice*

*Those are not the names; I forget what old-fashioned names she mentioned.

And someone mentioned older Jennifers. One of my friends from school (roughly 40) was named Jennifer after her Grandmother. Grandma Jenny is in her 80s now.

A friend of mine lost his elderly mother last year and her name was Jennifer. Must have been odd to have been a Jennifer and not have run into umpteen dozen others all the time, at least in her younger days.

I get very eye-rolly at anyone who does this with baby names. Well, with the exception being I wouldn't use a name if a friend had lost a child with that name. I wouldn't even feel comfortable asking in that case but otherwise? I dunno. Aside from that, being precious about a name seems kinda silly to me.

Heck at church two of my boys share a name with two others so we usually either use last initials or "Big, middle, little" before their names.

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Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. Be cheerful, strive to be happy. -Desiderata